UNE Lyncs staff and students

The University of New England has adopted Microsoft Lync 2013 to connect its 23,000 staff and students.

The proportion of University of New England students studying online is a remarkable 80%.

The large-scale deployment of Microsoft Lync 2013 will allow communication and collaboration among staff and students, including the online delivery of lectures.

"At UNE, our staff and students can now benefit from the most innovative online learning experience through software-based audio, video, conferencing, and collaboration via Microsoft Lync," said UNE IT director, Robert Irving.

"Microsoft Lync will connect both current and potential future students with our educators and staff to improve overall learning experiences and support whilst giving our researchers the ability to achieve faster results by making it easier to connect people with people and people with knowledge."

UNE also plans to use Skype/Lync connectivity as part of its student recruitment process, allowing prospective students to speak to staff at no cost, even from overseas.

"Rather than simply replace their phone system, UNE saw an opportunity to embrace a truly unified communication and collaboration platform" said John Schneider, managing director of Computer Systems Australia, the company that handled UNE's Lync deployment.

"Lync enables the University to deliver a superior set of educational tools directly into the hands of its users through the device of their choice, no matter where they are."

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Stephen Withers is one of Australia¹s most experienced IT journalists, having begun his career in the days of 8-bit 'microcomputers'. He covers the gamut from gadgets to enterprise systems. In previous lives he has been an academic, a systems programmer, an IT support manager, and an online services manager. Stephen holds an honours degree in Management Sciences and a PhD in Industrial and Business Studies.